


For the tractable

by CherryApple



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-07-02 16:17:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15800133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CherryApple/pseuds/CherryApple
Summary: Cherry a skeleton that barely gets attention from his brother leaves his home and wonders too far and comes across a big ivory door that's locked from the inside and decided to practice knock-knock jokes on it, at his last joke he was surprised when someone responded with a soft ”hello”? Taken back he decided to talk to the person behind the door which is the first mistake he made.





	1. Chapter 1

"What do you mean you're leaving?!" Apple shrieked, forcefully grabbing the end of the royal guard's cape tugging on it. "You promised me that we would have dinner together!"

"Eat dinner by yourself, I'll be back later there's a so-called human on the loose and I'm not going to sit here while it roams." Papyrus sighed, yanking his cape out of Apple's rock iron grip giving him a harsh glare.

Apple took a few steps back and looked down at his feet, he threw his hands up in defeat turning on his heels. "Fine!" He yelled, marching into the kitchen angrily slamming a pan onto the stove. "I didn't want to have dinner with you anyway!"

"Don't be like that, I'll be back later." Papyrus groaned, rolling his eyes walking out the door shutting it behind him trudging through the cold snow.

"Have fun." Apple snarled, sticking his tongue out at the door. He turned the fire on and poured oil into the pan waiting for it to heat up, muttering foul words underneath his breath. "Stupid Papyrus, always making decisions and bailing on me at the last minute."

Apple turned the fire off and ripped off his apron and walked back into the living room, he grabbed his hoodie off of the coat rack putting it on. "Dinner can wait I'm going for a walk." He sighed, putting on his sweater and walked out the door into the cold, his eyes focused on the trees that were in front of him.

Apple trudged through the snow continuing to mutter underneath his breath, he kicked a small rock and sighed silently. He was tired of his brother leaving just before he could even bond with him, sometimes he wished all of the attention on him.

Apple shoved his hands into his pockets closing his eyes tightly, he wondered what it would be like if he actually got attention from the people he held dearly. He started to get lost in his thoughts forgetting to pay attention to his surroundings, a chuckle came from the small skeleton as he began to skip.

Apple bumped his head on a door and let out a quiet gasp, he backed up a bit holding his head muttering a few words. "Ow!" He exclaimed, looking up at the door a confused look on his face as he turned his attention to the walls, it appeared that he wandered into an abandoned house or so it had appeared. "Where am I?"

Apple decided to knock on the door and tell a joke and see if anyone would answer, he knocked on the door preparing a quick joke. "Knock knock!" He waited for a couple of minutes to see if anyone would respond to him, as he waited he chewed on the end of his sleeve in anticipation shifting back and forth.

Silence.

He seemed a little bit disappointed because there was no reply but he wasn't going to lose face and continued with the joke, a grin appeared on his face as he leaned against the door. "Who's there? Etch. Etch who? Bless you." Apple laughed, as if the joke he just said was the funniest thing on earth when it wasn't, he just wanted to make himself feel better from the lack of an audience.

"I can guarantee you'll laugh at this one!" Apple laughed, holding his sides and knocked on the door. He took a deep breath to calm himself down from his so-called funny joke, when he finally calmed down he continued with the joke. "Knock knock!" He yelled, then randomly put his hood up and cleared his throat. "Who's there?" He asked himself, in a slightly effeminate voice. "Police."

"Police who?" Asked the effeminate character, swaying back and forth slowly. "Police hurry up, it's freezing out here." He shivered and did a bow then quickly switching to the effeminate character and burst into laughter, for some reason he felt like he was being watched by someone behind the door. "Oh ho ho ho! You're so funny, Apple!"

"That's good because I got plenty of jokes!" Apple smirked, walking back over to the door knocking on it. "Knock kn-" He was cut off by a "who's there?" before he could get the second knock out, he fell silent when he realized there was someone in there this whole time.

"I'm sorry! Did I interrupt you? Please continue!" The voice exclaimed, seeming to be worried that the interrupted Apple from his joke. "Oh um, knock knock." Apple stammered backing away from the door, he didn't know that someone was actually listening to him tell these jokes. "Who's there?" He asked, waiting in anticipation for Apple to finish his joke.

"Al."

"Al who?"

"Al give you a kiss if you open this door."

"Really now?" He asked, playfully unlocking the door to hear Apple's reaction. "A kiss from you wouldn't be so bad." His voice seemed to be teasing the small skeleton that was behind the door.

"I was joking!" Apple yelled, hiding his face in his hands backing away from the door. "Why did I have to tell that joke?" He asked himself, as he uncovered his face at the laughter. "Who are you?"

"King Calibri," Calibri responded, locking the door back and leaned up against the door. "And you are?" He seemed to be curious about who Apple was and how even got into his secret corridor, it was guarded by two guards that stood at the entrance of it. Where did they go? Were they slacking off again?

"My name is Apple," Apple spoke, cocking his head to the side a bit. "Wait... did you say, king?" He asked, his eyes going wide and instantly bowed down. "I'm sorry my king if I came off as rude for interrupting your solitude!"

"Oh no! Don't worry about it you're not interrupting me, I actually enjoy your company here since I don't get many visitors." Calibri hummed, knocking on the door two times having a joke to tell. "Knock knock!"

"Who's there?" Apple asked, turning to face the door and smiled wondering what kind of knock knock joke this would be. "I shouldn't be surprised that you have a funny joke to tell, you've been listening to me tell jokes for a little while."

"Says." Calibri snickered, putting his head in his hands waiting for Apple to respond with 'says who?', he adjusted his crown so it wouldn't fall off of his head.

"Says who?" Apple asked.

"Says me that's who."

"Haha!" Apple snickered, sliding down the door into the cold snow. He pulled his knees to his chest looking up at the sky, finally, he had someone to talk to and would listen to his jokes and would share some along with him. He closed his eyes muttering something underneath his breath as he put his hands in his pockets: he never wanted this night to end and wished he could stay at Calibri's side for a little while longer.

Apple's eyes snapped open as he felt a buzz in his pocket, it must've been his phone ringing since he left in his sweater. He reached into his pocket pulling out the bedazzled phone holding it up to his face before he could even say hello he was greeted with his brother's screaming and could barely understand what he was saying, as he tried to calm his brother down the phone eventually went dead and he wasn't able to hear the last thing he said.

"Calibri I'm going to have to go home my brother sounds very worried but I'll return tomorrow." Apple sighed, rising to his feet and took one look back at the door.


	2. -Chapter two-

"Promise me," Calibri demanded, placing his hands on the door and took a deep breath. His voice seemed to drop all laughter and was replaced with seriousness. "Promise me you'll come back."

The door started to open slowly and Calibri's hand slid through the crack, he stuck out his pinky so Apple could give him his promise. "I promise," Apple spoke, wrapping his pinky around Calibri's a grin appearing on his face.

"Cherry Apple!" Papyrus yelled, ruining the moment between the two marching forward towards Apple. "What are you doing here?!" He grabbed him by his arm and pulled him away from the door, there was a dangerous human on the loose and Papyrus had left searched for Apple for a while. "Wait! I didn't properly say goodbye to Calibri!" Apple exclaimed, pulling away from Papyrus and ran towards the door pressing his head against it, he couldn't hear anything on the other side and assumed he left. "Calibri? Goodbye."

Papyrus shook his head side to side letting out an irritated sigh, he marched over to Apple grabbing him by the hand. "No one has lived there for years the last person who last lived there died years ago." He put his hand underneath Apple's chin lifting his head up a smile appearing on his face. "Now let's go home."

\--

Once the brothers made it home Apple rushed upstairs and locked himself in his room, Papyrus took off his cloak and put it on the coat rack. "Goodnight Apple," He mumbled, walking up the stairs into the room. "I'll see you in the morning."

Apple violently tossed and turned in his bed not being able to get Calibri out of his mind, he rolled onto his back and looked up at the ceiling. How could someone he just met take over his thoughts so easily? He will definitely have to see him again first thing tomorrow but this time he's going to bring a basket filled with treats, anything that will let him see Calibri again.

Soon, he drifted off to sleep a smile plastered on his face, truly he didn't regret leaving the house for once in his life. He started dreaming about Calibri even in his dreams he can't escape him, the way he talks, laughs, tells jokes, and manages to be the nicest soul in the underground as a king should be.

While Apple slept, Papyrus was flipping through a book about the monster history and saw nothing with Calibri in it only King Asgore. He let out a sigh and closed the book putting his head down letting out an irritated sigh, who the hell was this Calibri person and how did he manage to get into the throne room?

There are no papers, writings, pictures, clips, or voice recordings of him, so how does Apple know about him? No one lives in there Asgore died leaving everyone on their own to thrive, soon, everything is going to run out and monsters are going to die the only things that might survive are the ghosts and robots. "He's not real." He muttered, closing his eyes starting to drift off to sleep. "He's not real."

\--

In Papyrus' dream, he was just standing in an empty white room except there was a big white door that looked like it was blending in with the wall and only the golden handles shined brightly to make it out it was a door.

Papyrus approached the door placing a hand on the doorknob but was taken back when the door swung open Apple running out slamming the door shut, he ran around the empty room and stopped when he apparently locked eyes with something that was across the room. He took no time to run across the room and push it towards the door blocking it to keep something or someone out.

”Apple?” Papyrus whispered, approaching the smaller skeleton watching him try to escape the room. ”Apple!” He tried to grab his brother's arm but his hand phased right through him. ”What is going on?”

Whatever was blocking the door was knocked over and Calibri came into the room an upset look on his face, he approached Apple grabbing his arm harshly dragging him to the door. ”Help me!” Apple screamed, but they were mumbled by Calibri’s hand the door beginning to shut.

Papyrus ran towards the door preventing it from closing seeing Calibri throw Apple into a trap door that was covered with a long red rug, Calibri slowly turned around to smile at Papyrus his hollow eyes stared at him blank, empty, soulless like a doll’s eyes. ”Don’t you dare cross me Papyrus.”

Papyrus woke up with a scream and gripped his shirt sweat dripping down his skull, he rose to his feet and opened his door approaching Apple's room. He put his hand on the doorknob taking a breath and open the door seeing Apple sleeping, a slight smile appeared on his face as he slowly shut the door.

He was surprised that Apple didn't hear him scream and wake up, he shook his head and walked back to his room. It seemed like he couldn't get over the fact that Cherry believed someone lived in that old room that's been vacant for years, he's been there a few times while he was on the hunt for the human who fell down here not too long ago.

Apple opened his eyes sitting up slowly stretching his arms above his head, he slid out of his bed and walked out into the hallway. He made his way downstairs and into the kitchen bumping into the counter, immediately, he started rummaging through the cabinets searching for his favorite cereal. Ironically, it had Mettaton's face on it and it looked like a rip-off of another cereal, he only liked it because it was chocolate and it had marshmallows in it.

Apple pulled the box out of the cabinet and put it on the table along with a bowl, he strolled over to the refrigerator pulling out a milk jug. He started humming as he moved towards the table putting the jug down and poured some of the seemingly unhealthy cereal into the bowl then the milk. "I wonder what I should bring to Calibri for our meeting."


	3. -Chapter three-

Apple leaves buttoned his shirt up and took one look in the mirror a smile appearing on his face, he picked up his picnic basket and headed downstairs and jumped off the last step. Before he even could get the door open Papyrus held it shut with his hand, his piercing white eyes examined his seemingly older brother. "Where do you think you're going?" Papyrus asked, moving in front of the door and crossed his arms over his chest preventing the smaller skeleton from leaving.

"To see a friend," Apple responded, shifting side to side and hid his basket behind his back letting out a chuckle. "Can you move out the way, please?" He cocked his head to the side at his brother wondering why he was blocking his path. "No the human is still on the loose and I don't want you getting dusted like the half of the monsters in the ruins." Papyrus turned around and locked the door then gently pushed Apple back away from the door giving him a smile but it faded when he saw an obvious frown on his brother's face, he tried to calm him down but to no avail which caused him to drop his basket and go upstairs.

"Apple!" Papyrus yelled, following behind him and stopped him in his tracks. "You must understand my reasoning for keeping you here right?" He pulled him into a hug his eyes turning a dull yellow. "I understand," Apple mumbled, wiggling out of his grip and headed towards his room. "You care more about a stupid human and won't believe what I say."

Papyrus closed his eyes when Apple slammed the door shut and let out a sigh, he headed back downstairs and pulled his cape off the coat rack. Why is own brother acting this way? Usually, when he's told something he obeys. What has he been seeing at that door?

While Papyrus was pondering his thoughts Apple was crawling out of his bedroom window, he fell onto the roof with a soft thud and forced himself to his feet. "Oh boy." Apple whimpered, looking down at the ground and looked behind him wondering if he should go back inside.

Apple walked towards the edge of the roof and closed his eyes tightly, he leaned forward slowly falling into the bushes below. He crawled out of the bushes on his hands and knees leaves covering his clothes. "Ow." He whined, standing up sneaking around the house then slowly moved back when Papyrus walked out of the door and into the forest.

Apple relaxed when Papyrus walked into the forest but he knew he couldn't go into the forest and had to go around, he made his way towards the door and opened it immediately grabbing his sweater and slowly shut the door back.

Now all he had to do is make it back to Calibri and not break his promise, he checked his pockets and felt his keys jingling around then pulled them out and threw them as far as he could. He was tired of being forced to stay inside of his house without anything do to and without anyone to talk to. All of a sudden, he found himself running around the forest letting out heavy pants. He's not exactly sure how long it's going to take him to reach Calibri but he doesn't care about that now but as long as he's escaping this restrained lifestyle he will be fine with it, he's just tired of being forced to stay inside just because of some silly human.

Apple stopped to take a look at his surroundings realizing he was still outside the forest but struggled to figure out where he was and let a disappointed sigh and kicked a small rock, he was lost and had no idea to find Calibri in this mess of trees and snow. "If only I had some type of contact with him." Apple sighed, picking up a rock and threw hearing it make contact with something and heard someone scream. "Ow! What was that?”

Apple walked towards the scream and picked a dead branch just in case, he lifted it above his head almost swung it at the person who screamed but it was stopped by Calibri’s hand. "I suppose you were the one who threw the rock at me you caused me to scare off a cute little bird." Calibri chuckled, motioning to the spilled bird seeds that covered the snow. "It's nice to see you again, Apple."

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't mean to." Apple stammered, dropping the stick and looked down at the spilled bird seeds. Calibri lifted his chin up slowly smiling at the troubled skeleton opening his eyes, the same hollow eyes which Papyrus saw in his dream this gave Apple shivers down his spine. "Give me your hand," Calibri spoke, holding his hand out to Apple giving him a smile taking a step closer noticing him moving backward. "Do you trust me?"

As chilling Calibri's eyes were he couldn't help but trust him, he placed his hand in his looking him in the eyes. "I trust you." He wondered what Calibri was about to do seeing a few sparks of yellow appearing in his empty sockets, in response Apple's eyes started to glow to his soft yellow glow. For once he felt safe in the arms of a complete stranger, reluctantly wrapping his arms around him and rested his head on his stomach since he was way shorter than Calibri. "This is nice."

”I wish we could stay like this forever.” Apple sighed, not wanting this moment to end and was surprised when Calibri let out a chuckle and lifted his chin up once more. ”Then let's stay together we can live in my home and have so much fun.” Apple was overjoyed when Calibri said this but reality hit him like a brick and wondered what would happen to Papyrus if he really left him alone, he sighed silently breaking the hug and crossed his arms glaring at his feet muttering underneath his breath. ”But if I do move in with you Papyrus is going to find me one way or another,” He grabbed Calibri’s hand squeezing it tightly, ”I don't want anything bad to happen to you.”

Calibri grabbed Apple's shoulders looking him in the eyes taking a deep breath and let out a shaky sigh, he hated how upset Apple looked and wanted to take all of his stress away. ”Apple please listen to me do you want him to control you for the rest of your life?” He asked, his calm voice becoming surprisingly stern wanting an answer from the smaller skeleton.

Apple was surprised at Calibri’s stern demeanor and a few tears appearing in his eyes, ”No I’m tired of him stopping me from what I want to do I just want to be free to do what I want and not what he wants.” Calibri wiped the tears from Apple eyes and pulled him into his arms, he rubbed the top of Apple's head gently letting out a quiet hum. ”Then why don't you stay with me every day you can do want you want and I’ll never question you or tell you no.”

Apple cried into Calibri’s chest and looked at him with a smile appearing on his face as he wiped his face with his sleeves, he was filled with happiness for once in his life that someone wasn't going to question him or his decisions. “Thank you, Calibri now shall we go home?” Calibri let out a slight chuckle and picked Apple up planting a kiss on his forehead. ”Yes let's go home my little Apple.”


	4. -Chapter Four-

After a few hours of searching the forest, Papyrus turned around and started to head home and check on Apple and see how he doing. He rubbed his eye and slowly started to close his eyes but heard a branch snap and pulled out his sword moving around slowly then heard footsteps departing and quickly followed behind then realized it would be a lost cause to chase whoever this was in this weather and in the dark and quickly slowed down and put his sword away. ”Damn it.” He muttered, putting his sword away and continued on his walk home which would take a few minutes. He saw something shining in the snow and upon closer inspection, he noticed it was Apple’s keys and he scooped them up into his hands.

”Apple’s keys?” He muttered, taking a look around and full on started sprinting to his home breathing hard and once he made it he noticed the door was wide open. Papyrus gripped his sword tightly walking inside noticing everything was completely destroyed furniture was turned over their dining room table was broken into pieces and writings covered the walls. He picked up a broken picture frame including a ripped picture of him and Apple but the picture of Apple was missing and only the half picture of him remained.

Papyrus threw the picture down in anger and turned around but fell to the floor when something hard connected with his skull, he looked up slowly and noticed silver boots in front of his face and a spiked club that hit him. He closed his eyes and quickly lost consciousness but could feel their footsteps departing after whoever knocked him unconscious rolled him onto his side and took the gold that he earned out of his pocket.

\--

A few hours after Apple had left home he stood behind Calibri as he unlocked the large doors he hid behind when he first met Apple, he pushed the doors open and turned to look at Apple. ”Welcome home.” Apple walked pass Calibri taking a look around almost everything was white from the furniture to the large pillars that stood at the far back of the ruins. There were black flowers that were placed in grey vases that lined the walls along with bowls filled with candies wrapped in silver wrapping and there were a few more candies that had white wrappings as well.

”Wow,” Apple spoke, looking around the long corridor and approached the flowers smiling at them. ”This is amazing.” He felt Calibri’s hand on his shoulder hearing him let out a quiet chuckle and led him away from the flowers. ”You haven't seen anything yet.”

Calibri ran to the end of the hallway excitedly and stood in front of a double door and waited for Apple to meet him at the door a slight smile on his face, there was something behind those doors that he really wanted to show Apple.

 

Apple nervously made his way over to Calibri and looked up at him feeling his soul his beat faster and faster when he got closer to Calibri, he crossed his arms over his chest and titled his head to the side. ”So what's behind these doors?” Apple asked, swaying from side to side thinking about what could be behind those doors.

”Well! I’m glad you asked!” Calibri exclaimed, opening the doors revealing a large table decorated with delicious foods such as queen buns, fairy cakes, cinnamon rolls, and a whole bunch of desserts Apple did not lay his eyes on. But what really caught Apple's eye was the apple fritters which made him squeal in delight as he ran over to the table rushing to grab one but pulled his hands back and looked at Calibri remembering his manner. ”Is it okay if I can take one, your majesty?”

”Now now didn't I say it was okay to call me Calibri? Take as many as you like!” Calibri smiled, shutting the door behind him and walked over to the table. ”I’m so happy that I finally have some company here since the others stopped visiting me and I was actually happy to give them shelter but they took my kindness for granted but I can't dwell on the past forever why don't you try the sex in a pan it's to die for!”

”Hehe, sex in a pan?” Apple giggled, ”Never heard of it before.” He walked over to the pan marveling at it's whipped cream surface that was covered in graham cracker bits.

”Then you haven't lived my friend! Let me cut you a slice.” Calibri picked up a large kitchen knife cutting a slice of the delicious pudding and put it on a small plate handing it to Apple. ”You know my mum hated this dish so much that she wouldn't let me say the name because I would embarrass her stores by saying hey mum let's buy pudding for sex in a pan hah those were the days.”

Apple snorted taking the plate from Calibri taking picking up a spoon full of the pudding in his mouth enjoying the tiny bite he took of it, he soon finished the entire plate of it. ”Wow, did you make this yourself?” He asked, putting the plate down and pulled out a chair. ”I can understand her reasoning you were very young.”

Calibri nodded sitting in a chair across from Apple looking over at a teapot that was at the far end of the table making it levitate and float over to them, he poured the tea into two cups placing the pot down and picked up the cups. ”Hope you like pomegranate tea reminds me of an old friend named Pom short for pomegranate.”

Apple examined the tea before taking a sip of it and let out a hum, he started to wonder what happened to his old friend and what happened to them. ”What happened to her?” He asked, not knowing the seriousness of his question.

Calibri looked away for a second and let out a soft sigh as if something was hurting him on the inside and took a deep breath facing Apple, swallowing his fear deciding to tell Apple the secrecy behind his friend's disappearance. ”Poor dear lost her mind trying to escape her father you see he put a parasite like mask on her face and now it controls her emotions, what she says, doesn’t let her do things that she wants to do, especially control her actions.”

Apple put down his cup immediately and grabbed Calibri’s arm almost spilling his tea his eyes full of home, he wanted to help Calibri get his friend back believing there was a way to get her back. ”Do you know where she is?”

 

Calibri shook his head putting his cup down putting his head in his head tracing the rim of the cup letting out a soft sigh his eyes becoming half-lidded as he stared at the wall. ”No one knows where she is some says she turned to dust and others say she's being experimented on or was turned into an amalgamate.”

Apple went silent noticing Calibri’s shift in emotion deciding to cheer him up and scooted closer to him and picking up two garlic sticks and put them in his mouth tapping Calibri on the shoulder. ”Hey, Calibri look at me!” He exclaimed, holding his hands in the air symbolizing two large wings of a bat. ”I’m a vampire!”

 

Calibri let out a slight chuckle a smile appearing on his face as much as he didn't want to smile he did anyway, he removed the breadsticks out of Apple's mouth and put them in his hands. ”Didn’t your parents teach you not to play with your food?”

 

”Nope.” Apple laughed, eating both breadsticks quickly and let out a yawn standing up and pushed his chair in. ”I’m getting kind of tired do you have a place for me to sleep and maybe some pajamas?” He rubbed his eye socket being quite tuckered out from running in the forest and walking a long way with Calibri.

 

Calibri nodded his head and got up out of his chair picking Apple up carrying him in his arms, he carried him down a long corridor and up some steps and into a room putting him down. ”I’m going to go get you some pajamas.” He turned around walking into the hallway shutting the door behind him.

 

Apple watched him leave and slid off the bed deciding to take a look around the room starting with a box that was in a far corner of the room, he trailed his fingers over the box wiping some of the dust off of it and opened the box. It was filled with children's shoes of all different sizes and colors. ”Such a strange amount of shoes perhaps Calibri had taken care of kids before I arrived?” He muttered, closing the box and walked over to the bookshelf examining each and every one not being surprised that they were children's books then walked over to the closet opening it noticing all the clothes that would match the children's clothes. ”Definitely must’ve taken care of kids.”

”What are you doing?” Calibri asked, holding a pair of red pajamas in his hands. ”Examining those old clothes huh I forgot to throw those out.” He walked over to the bed putting the pajamas down and walked back over to the door giving him a smile. ”I’ll be in my room sweet dreams little Apple.”

Before Apple could even ask him about the shoes, books, and clothes Calibri already had left the room, he clapped his hands and jumped on the bed letting out a huff. ”What’s he hiding?” He sat up slowly taking off his clothes and putting on the pajamas stretching his arms above his head crawling into bed, turning off the light and pulled the cover above his head closing his eyes. ”Goodnight Honey Bunny.”


End file.
